Bear Valley ski resort looking for investors with plenty of cold cash

Friday

Jan 25, 2013 at 12:01 AM

BEAR VALLEY - The owners of the Bear Valley Mountain ski resort announced this week they are now looking for investors to put up the tens of millions of dollars needed to add 350 housing units, build a lift from Bear Valley Village to the top of Mount Reba, and otherwise upgrade and renovate the resort.

Dana M. Nichols

BEAR VALLEY - The owners of the Bear Valley Mountain ski resort announced this week they are now looking for investors to put up the tens of millions of dollars needed to add 350 housing units, build a lift from Bear Valley Village to the top of Mount Reba, and otherwise upgrade and renovate the resort.

The announcement comes after resort owners cleared key hurdles to the proposed development: The Alpine County Board of Supervisors approved final environmental documents and master plans for the expansion Dec. 18. Also in December, Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center announced it had negotiated a settlement of a dispute over the environmental impacts of expanding the resort.

"It is very exciting after all this time to be able to actually start thinking about what we can do, instead of working through regulatory issues," Bear Valley Resorts managing partner Greg Finch said in a written statement. "All the groundwork for a spectacular development has been laid - this will be one of the jewels of the Sierra."

The statement did not specify how much money resort owners need or when construction might begin.

"We're quite confident that we will secure funding for the expansion," Finch said.

Officials with the Stanislaus National Forest approved environmental documents in September for expansion of the portion of the resort that is in the forest - generally the mountaintop, lodge and ski runs.

In the past, project proponents have estimated that the expansion of Bear Valley - both the residential village in the valley and the ski facilities on the mountain - could bring $200 million in investment to the area. Just the improvements to lifts and facilities on the mountain have been estimated at $20 million.

Given the dismal real estate market in recent years, investors had been skittish about building more housing. Finch, however, said that he is seeing positive change in the local and national real estate markets.

"The movement is finally in the right direction," he said.

Also, Finch said Bear Valley will be attractive to investors because it is one of the last sites in the Sierra Nevada where ski resort expansion is possible and that the resort is one of the closest to parts of the Bay Area.

Terry Woodrow, the Alpine County supervisor who represents Bear Valley, said she believes the expansion will benefit area residents without damaging the environment.

"The community is pleased that the Bear Valley ownership group pursued this long regulatory process through to completion, and we are looking forward to the future expansion and redevelopment," Woodrow said.